Published January, 1972

Growth Stages of Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor, (L.) Moench.] 1

R. L. Vanderlip and H. E. Reeves2

ABSTRACT Table l. Identifying characteristics and approximate time in-

Research with grain sorghum often involves sampling
several times during the growth cyde. Samplings_ often
are designated by calendar date, days after plantmg or
emergence, or by plant height. Often these bear little
or no actual relationship to the morphological or phy-
siological age or status of the plant. Although certain
stages of sarghum growth are fairly well established, the
growth cycle of sorghum has not been fully described.
Therefore, a standard set of growth stages needs to be de-
fined. Based on detailed studies of grain sorghum hybrids
of different maturities, the following ten stages of devel-
opment have been defined and illustrated: emergence,
three-leaf, fi ve-Ieaf, growing-point differentiation, final
leaf visible in whorl, boot, half-bloom, soft dough, hard
dough, and physiological maturity. These stages are sug-
gested as standards to describe the timing of sampling or
treating sorghum.
--------------~
Additional key words: Emergence, Growing-point dif-
ferentiation, Root, Half-bloom, Soft dough, Hard dough,
Physiological matwity.
--------------------
R ESEARCH with grain sorghum often involves
sampling several times during the growth cycle.
Samplings often are designated by calendar date, days
after planting or emergence, or by plant height. Han-
way (4) suggested that any description of growth
stages of plants should permit sampling (a) at dif-
ferent times throughout the growing season, (b) at
·any important transitional period in the physiological
or morphological development of the plant, and (c)
at readily identifiable stages of plant developm~nt. .
Although cet;tain stages of sorghum growth are fair-
ly well established, the growth cycle of sorghum has
not been fully described. In particular, the early veg-
etative growth period has not been characterized.
Presented here is a description of sorghum growth
stages that have been used successfully in a variety
of sorghum experiments. Table I gives identifying
characteristics for these stages. Stages were defined
following a detailed study of growth of early, medium,
and late maturing hybrids. Subsequently these stages
have been used to describe sampling or treatment
times for 9 other hybrids and varieties. Approximate
time intervals between stages for 'RS6IO' at Manhat-
tan, Kansas are given. It should be recognized that
these intervals will vary with planting date, hybrid,
and location grown.
tervals among stages of growth of sorghum.
Growth
0 Emergence , Coleoptile visible at s o U surfa ce.
10 Co11ar of 3rd leaf vl9lble,
20 Collnr of 5th leaf visible.
30 Growing point di[[erentlallon. Approximately 8 leaf
stage by previous criteria,
-W Final leaf visible In whorl.
50 Boot. Head extended Into flag leal sheath.
60 Hat{-btoorn. Half of the plants at some s tage of b loom.
70 Soft dough ,
85 Hard dough .
95 Physiolo gical ma turity. Maximum d ry ma tter
:lc curnula tlon.
• Approxima te days r equired Cor hybrids of RS 610 m ntufitY g r own at Ma Mattan,
Kansas.
Stage 0. _ Emergence, i.e., when the coleoptile is vis-
ible at the soil surface, 9ccurs generally between 3 and
10 days after planting depending on environmental
conditions. Martin, Taylor, and Leukel (6) reported
that with a 3.8 em (1.5 in) planting depth 4 days were
required from planting to emergence at 30 C, and 9
days at 15 C. Evans, Stickler, and Laude (3) found
emergence ranged from 3 days to more than IO days
when temperature and moisture conditions varied
from 15.5 to 32.2 C and from wilting point to field
capacity. Evans and Stickler (2) further found that
seed sources (for the same hybrid) could significantly
affect germination rates, especially at high moisture
tensions.
Stage 1. Collar of third leaf visible (Fig. I). This
occurs approximately 10 days after emergence, how-
ever, time required to reach stage I can vary widely
with environmental conditions. For counting leaves
Martin et al., (6) found II days post emergence at 30

1 Contribution No. 1191, Agronomy Department, Kansas Agri-

cultural Experiment Station, Manhattan, Kansas 66502. Re-
ceived May 26, 1971. .
"Associate Profes~or and Temporary Assistant Professor,
Agronomy Department, Kansas State University, Manhattan
Kansas. ·
14 AGRONOMY JOURNAL, VOL. 64, JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1972
C to U days at 15 C were required to reach the 4-leaf
stage. , This occurs approximately 30 days after emergence
Stage 2. Collar of fifth leaf visible (Fig. 2). This
stage occurs about three weeks after emergence. The
first leaf may have been lost but that has not pre-
sented a problem in determining stage of growth un-
der normal conditions.
Fig. 2- Growth stage 2. Sorghum plant with collar of fifth leaf
visible and plant separated to show development of leaves.
Fig. 3. Growth stage 3. Sorghum plants intact and serarated
into component parts to show size and development o leaves
and culm when growing point differentiation occurs. Inset
shows differentiated growing point.
Fig. 4. Growth stage 4. Sorghum plants intact and separated
into component parts to show size and development of leaves
and culm when final leaf is visible in whorl. Note culm
elongation since stage 3.
Stage 3. Growing-point differentiation (Fig. 3).
and represents the change in the growing point from
vegetative to reproductive growth. It is determined
by both genetic control (Quinby, 8) and environmen-
tal effects (Pauli, Stickler, and Lawless, 7). At this
time rapid culm elongation begins. Also, 1 to 3· leaves
may have been lost~ Approximately 7 to 10 leaves are
fully expanded, depending on the sorghum's maturity.
Time from emergence to floral initiation ranged from
32 to 44 days for 12 sorghum varieties (Paulson, I. W.
1962. Embryogeny and seedling development to floral
transition of Sorghum vulgare Pers., Ph.D. Disserta-
tion, Iowa State Univ., Ames). Pauli et al., (7) found
that time required from planting to growing-point
differentiation lengthened with earlier planting. They
found time from planting to growing-point differen-
tiation to be about one-third of the time required for
physiological maturity, regardless of planting date or
variety.
Fig. 5. Growth stage 5. Sorghum plant at boot stage.
Fig. 6. Growth stage 5. Sorghum plant at boot stagt: separated
into plant parts to show development. Note head development
and lack of elongation of peduncle. ·
 VANDERLIP & REEVES: GROWTH STAGES OF SORGHUM
Stage 4. Final leaf visible in whorl (Fig. 4). At this
time rapid culm elongation occurs. All except the
final 3 or 4 leaves have fully expanded. The lower 2
to 5 leaves likely have been ·lost.
Stage 5. Boot (Fig. 5 and 6). All leaves are fully
expanded providing maximum leaf area. The head
is nearly full length and enclosed in flag leaf sheath.
Peduncle elongation is occurring with remainder of
culm already nearly full length.
Stage 6. Half-bloom (Fig. 7 and 8). One-half of
the plants in some stage of bloom. If stage of develop-
ment of an individual plant is desired, the time when
flowering has progressed approximately halfway down
the head should be used. Time required from emer-
gence to half-bloom also depends on the genetic back-
ground of the plant and environmental conditions.
Fig. 7. Growth stage 6. Sorghum plant in bloom.
Fig. 8. Growth stage 6. Sorghum plant in bloom separated into
plant parts to show development. Note peduncle development
since stage 5.
15
It is approximately two-thirds of the time from emer-
gence to physiological maturity (Pauli et al., 7).
Stage 7. Soft dough (Fig. 9 and 10). Approximately
one-half of the grain dry matter has accumulat7d.
Culm weight has decreased slightly; only 8 to 12 func-
tional leaves remain.
Stage 8. Hard dough (Fig. ll and 12). Approxi-
mately three-fourths of the grain dry matter has ac-
cumulated. Additional leaf loss likely has occurred.
Stage 9. Physiological maturity (Fig. 13 and 14).
Maximum dry weight of the total plant has been
reached. The grain moisture at which this occurs
varies with season and genetic material. Kersting et
al. (5) found that physiological maturity occurred 45
days after pollination at 23% moisture one year and
33 days after pollination at 30% moisture in another.
Fig. 9. Growth stage 7. Sorghum plant at soft dough stage.
Note number of functional leaves.
Fig. 10. Growth stage 7. Sorghum plant at soft dough stage
separated into plant parts.
16 AGRONOMY JOURNAL, VOL. 64, JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1972
Fig. 11. Growth stage 8. Sorghum plant at hard dough stage.
Fig. 12. Growth stage 8. Sorghum plant at hard dough stage
separated into plant parts.
Pauli et al. (7) found that varieties differed signifi-
cantly in moisture content at physiologic maturity,
with no consistent relationship between moisture con-
tent and maturity. They also found no significant
effect of date of planting.
LITERATURE GITED
L Bartel, A. T.,and J- H. Martin. 1938. The growth curve of
sorghum. J- Agr. Res. 57:843-849.
2.. Evans, W. F., and F. C. Stickler. 1961. Grain sorghum seed
Fig. 13. Growth stage 9. Sorghum plant at physiological ma-
turity.
Fig. 14. Growth stage 9. Sorghum plant at physiological ma-
turity separated into plant parts.
germination under moisture and temperature stresses. Agron.
J. 53:369-372.
3 '------, ------, and H. H. Laude. 1961. Sorghull}
seed germination as affected by moisture and temperature.
Trans. Kans. Acad. Sci. 64:210-217.
4. Hanway, J. J. 1963. Growth stages of corn (Zea mays, L.).
Agron. J. 55:487-492.
5. Kersting, J. F., F. C. Stickler, and A. W. Pauli. 1!161. Grain
sorghum caryopsis development. I. Changes in dry weight,
moisture percentage and viability. Agron. J. 53:g6-38.
6. Martin, J- H., J. W. Taylor, and R. W. Leukel. 1935. Effect
of soil temperature and depth of planting on the emergence
and development of sorghum seedlings in the greenhouse.
J. Am. Soc. Agron. 27:660-665.
7. Pauli, A. W., F. C. Stickler, and J- R. Lawless. 1964. Develop-
mental phases of grain sorghum (Sorghum vulgar-~, Pers.) as
influenced by variety, location and planting date. Crop Sci.
4:10-13.
8. Quinby, J. R. 1963. Manifestations of hybrid vit~or in sor-
ghum. Crop Sci. 3:288-291.